First Week Freshman Athlete

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The campus came alive this week with the start of classes as well as the largest freshman class that Mercer University has seen so far. Several of those freshmen are the newest recruits to Mercer Athletics, and for volleyball player Morgan MacGilvary, it was her first week here at Mercer.

Originally from Plano, Texas, MacGilvary said that she came to Mercer because of its traditional Southern nature. “Because I’m from Texas, I wanted a football team where everyone’s excited. And then I wanted the Southern pride, where everyone is proud of their school.”

Though she’s already homesick, MacGilvary already has plans to stay close with her friends and family. She plans to attend a tournament with her father in a few weeks at the University of Mississippi, which her best friend attends. Another of her best friends is driving down to see her soon.

MacGilvary originally began playing volleyball when she was in third grade though she had not intended to at first.

“It was kinda just like a joke. My dad was just like, you should try this. I was terrible at first. The worst on the team,” said MacGilvary. However, as she played more, she enjoyed it more. She joined club volleyball in middle school, which she said was basically a requirement due to the competitive community. Once she started with the club, she said that she began to get better and better until she finally came to Mercer.

When asked if she thought that being a college athlete would affect her college experience, MacGilvary had a positive attitude. “I think it’ll definitely add to it for sure. It’ll be easier to get to know people and the athletes, and I think that’ll be good for making friends,” she said. “It’ll be better to get to know the campus, because you get to come early and you get to see the campus without everyone on it, so it’s less overwhelming.”

Although her major is still undecided, MacGilvary has a few ideas about what she would like it to be. A student of the Eugene W. Stetson School of Business and Economics, she may wants to go into sports management. After she graduates, she is thinking of going to law school to learn more about contracting so that she can get involved with sports contracts. When asked if she thought that balancing athletics and academics was going to be hard, MacGilvary replied, “Well, since I’ve been balancing it for so long, I think it’ll be easier for me than for someone who maybe just started doing it… It’s not going to be impossible to do, but it’s still going to be hard to do. But school always comes first.”

Currently, MacGilvary is taking a history class with a focus on how medicine has affected society, an INT class, social entrepreneurship, Old Testament, and Business 101.

One thing that MacGilvary said she did not expect when she came to Georgia was the heat. “Texas is hot, but this is humid. In Texas, it’s just dry.” MacGilvary thinks that she will enjoy the camaraderie of the volleyball team the most this year. “All the girls know places you can go, so you already have people there to be your best friends.”